Winding machine



28, 1937. R. J. BARTHOLOMEW 2,103,347,

WINDING MACHINE Filed July 10, 1936 INVENTOR. ROBERT J. BARTHOLOMEWATTORNEY.

Patented Dec. 28, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE" I Robert J.Bartholomew, Germantcwn, Pa.

Application July 10, 1936, Serial No. 90,030

5 Claims.

My invention relates to an improvement in winders, and particularly awinder designed to form yarn or thread into a ball or coil.

An object of my invention is to provide mechanism of this type which issimple in construction, inexpensive to produce, made up of a smallnumber of parts assembled so that the device can be readily and quicklymounted, and which can always be easily operated to perform withsmoothness and certainty the function required.

A further object is to provide a ball winder that is compact, strong anddurable, with the various members thereof so arranged that the device isvery satisfactory to handle, and which is virtually incapable of gettingout of order.

Other objects and advantages of the invention are set forth in theensuing description, and the novel features are defined in the appendedclaims. But this disclosure is explanatory only, and various changes indetails may be adopted without going beyond the principle of theinvention or exceeding its scope.

A preferred embodiment of my invention is illustrated on theaccompanying drawing in which:- 7 I Figure 1 is a side view of a winderaccording to my invention, partly in section, and

Figure 2 is a front view of a detail.

The drawing shows a support I adapted to be secured in upright positionand carrying at its upper extremity a bearing 2 which receives therotatable shaft 3. Fixed to one end of shaft 3 is a handwheel-crank 4,the object of which is to turn said shaft, and fixed to the other end ofshaft 3 is an arm 5. This arm bears at its outer extremity the stud orpin 1, preferablyriveted in said arm and serving as a journal for thedished gear Hi. This pin passes loosely through the hub !2 of said gear,which can therefore rotate about the pin freely. The hub 6 of the arm 5is made fast to the spindle 3 in any feasible way, and integral withsaid arm adjacent to the hub is a shield or hood 8 that surrounds a gear9 on the bearing 2. The gear 9 has a hub l3 which telescopes over theadjacent end of the bearing 2; and this gear is thereby made fast to thebearing and is motionless thereon. The shield at one point has anopening II which permits the gear ill at all times to be in mesh withthe gear 9. The purpose of this hood 8 is to prevent any accidentalcontact of the teeth of the gear 9 and the person of the operator or theclothing of the latter.

The hub l2 of the dished gear II] also serves to mount the windingspindle I4 on which the thread is wound. This spindle or bobbin I4 ishollow and one end is pushed upon the hub, l2, which fits snuglytherein. If desired, a spool (not shown) to receive the thread may beslipped on the bobbin and held motionless thereon J through frictionalcontact. The parts are so disposed that the longitudinal axis of thewinding spindle l4 intersects the axis of shaft 3 at a point I! directlyabove eyelet guide l5. In other words, a line drawn vertically.throughthe center of guide l5 to the axis of winding spindle I4 willmeet this axis at the point I! where this axis intersects the axis ofthe shaft 3.

Since the gear 9 is fixed in position and is meshed with gear In, anyrevolution of the handwheel-crank 4 will not only cause a revolution ofthe arm 5 (including its connected parts I, l0, l2, and I4) about theaxis of shaft 3 but will also result in a separate rotation of gear I0and winding spindle I4 about their own common axisri, This latter motionis plainly due to the fact that on rotation of lever arm 5 the teeth offixed pinion 9 tend to hold back the gear I!) and so cause the gear 10to rotate about its own axis in the same direction as the handwheel-:-

crank4. f v,

The resultant motion then of the winding spindle I4 is seen to be acombination of two separate rotations-rotation about its own axis andrevolution about the axis of shaft 3describing in space a pair ofcircular cones each having its apex located at the point H.

In practice the thread to be wound is led from a reel or swift (notshown) through the guide aperture l5 and made fast to the windingspindle M, by insertion in a slit therein for example, or by taking afew turns about the winding spindle It, or a spool thereon. Then uponrotation of the handwheel 4, the motions of the various partshereinbefore described operate to build up a ball of thread; indicatedin outline at IS, the turns of the thread continually crossing oneanother.

When the ball is complete it will slide easily off the spindle I l whenseized by hand and the thread can be pulled out from the interior orexterior of the ball and used for knitting, darning, and other purposes.

The winder is intended to be used to a large extent by women who buywool in skeins or hanks, and then wish to roll it up into smallercompass. By my invention this step is greatly facilitated.

The lower end of the support I has two. jaws l8 to enable it to beeasily clamped to a table or the like. One jaw, such as the lower, bearsa clamp screw IS with a head to hold the winder securely when it is inoperation. The guide I5, as illustrated herein, may be an extension ofthe upper aw.

To prevent displacement of. the hub l2 and gear ID the pin 1 may beenlarged as at 20.

It is further to be observed that, although the hood 8 is disposed overthe gear 9 and adjacent the end of the shaft 3, the arm 5 lies betweenthe gears 9 and ill (and the support I. By this arrangement the winderis rendered more-compact and the distance from the center of the gear IDto the outer extremity of the spindle 14.

is as short as possible.

It will be observed that the handwheel-c'rank is at one end of the shaft3; and the ,armi, the opening I I in which is fully illustrated inFigure 2, is afii'xed to the opposite end of said shaft. In a device ofthis kind, there is no way of varying the distance from one thread onthe spindle I4 to .the next: therefore the gear ratio :must lie withinclose limits to produce :a satisfactory ball. In practice :the relativediameters of the sun gear 9 and the planet gear 10 should be-as 100 isto .1302 or 308, -or as 1001's itO 292 or 298. A smooth and compactlywound ball can then be obtained.

What I claimis: 1. .A ball winder comprising a support having clamp jawsthereon, one of. said jawshaving a fastening bolt and the other a guideaperture, a

bearing on thesupport, a shaftin the bearing, an

arm secured to the shaft, a journal on said arm, a gear on said journal,a bobbin afiixed to said gear, a gear fixed non-rotatably to thebearing,

the arm havingone end shaped to form. a'hood .each other.

3. .A ball winder comprising aysupport, a bearing on the support, ashaft in the bearing, an

arm secured to the shaft, a journal on said arm,

a gear on said journal, at bobbin affixed to said gear agear fixednon-rotatably to the bearing, the arm having one end shaped to form ahood for the fixed gear and the adjacent end of the shaft'and bearing,and the rest of the arm lying between a portion of the support and thefirstnamed gear, the arm having an aperture adjacent thezhood to,enable'the gears'to be in constantengagement with each other.

4. A ball winder comprising a support,a bearing .on-the support, a shaftin the bearing, an'arm secured to the shaft, a journal on said arm, :agear on the journal, said gear having a :hub, a bobbin mounted on saidhub, a gear fixed nonrotatably to the bearing, the arm having one endformed to provide a hood for the fixed gear and the adjacent .end of theshaft and bearing, the

remainder of the arm being disposed between a portion of. the supportand the first-named gear,

the arm havingan aperture adjacent the hood topermit constant engagementof said gears with each other.

ing on the support, a :shaft in the 'bearing,a nonrotatable gear fixedto the bearing, an arm secured to the shaft, a rotatable gear adapted toengage with said non-rotatable gear and a bobbin sup- .ported :by saidnon-rotatable gear mounted on the free end of said "arm, and ahoodcarried by said am and extending partially around the fixed gear andthe'adjacent end of the-shaft-and bearing.

ROBERT J. BARTHOLOMEW.

.5. A ball winder comprising a-support, a. bear-

